Trends and Opportunities in Mobile and Internet Space in China and Rest of the World

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Worst Winter in China in Half a Century

(photos taken from my apartment)

Chinese New Year is just around the corner with less than 1 week away and China is facing the worst winter in decades. The situation is definitely reaching breaking point with the world’s largest annual human migration as people will be making their way back to their hometown. Over the next couple of days, over 100 million plus people are preparing to return home for the upcoming week-long national holiday to celebrate Chinese New Year with their families.

The condition is Shanghai isnt as bad as the other worst hit cities and provinces where planes, trains and automobiles come to a complete stop. People are stucked in the stations and at the airport where most of them are forced to shut due to bad weather.

Though Shanghai may not be as badly hit but still having to wake up to an unusual heavy snow with room temperature dropping below 10 degrees Celsius can be a huge pain. Almost all apartments in Shanghai are poorly insulated with single glazed windows with no central-heating had further worsen my agony. In comparison to the northern cities like Beijing, its a real comfort to stay indoor with temperature constantly in the 30s celsius. Cant understand why a big city like Shanghai isnt implementing it???

The weather expert is forecasting at least another 3 days of winter storm and I m hoping that the condition will improve to lessen the strain and stress of people having to commute during the festive season. Chinese New Year is often their only opportunity every year to return to distant families in the far flung corners of the country.

I m glad that i m not making any travel to anywhere during the festive season except for having to make a business trip to Beijing this Friday. I m just going to keep my fingers cross and hope that the trip wont turn into a nightmare as I need to be back before my parents arrive from Malaysia. Got to be back on time to start warming up my apartment as my older folks are not going to be able to handle the winter storm that easily especially coming from a country with weather thats constantly hot everyday.

Below is a video news by AlJazeera English reporting on the hundreds of thousands of people who have been prevented from returning home by heavy snowfalls.